Screens

ABSTRACT

The invention consists in a structural element adapted to be connected with other elements to form a screen or like structure, the elements being arranged in staggered rows. Each element is provided with attachment means which comprises two spaced-apart lugs and a socket to house two adjacent lugs of similar adjoining elements of a lower row. The lugs and the sockets have parallel axes and are located at the corners of an isosceles or equilateral triangle so that the lines between the socket and the two lugs form equal sides of the triangle. Each socket has a pair of aligned holes centrally in register with the meeting plane of two lugs housed therein and each lug has a semi-circular groove so as to form with that of an adjacent lug a circular bore to receive a locking pin pushed through the socket holes. In its simplest form each element is constructed so that each lug is joined to the socket by a single bar member and can include rebated or grooved members forming glazing bars for supporting glazing panels or other sheets in the interstices of the screen formed by the elements.

United States Patent [191 Brant SCREENS [76] Inventor; Victor George Brant, Farley House, The Broadway, Sandhurst, near Camberley, England 22 Filed: Jan. 13,1971

21 Appl.No.: 106,099

52 U.S. Cl. ..52/581,52/ 663,287/5 4,

- 52/581 51 Int. cl. ..E04c 1/30,E04 2/42 58 FieIdofSearch ..52/585,581,648,

52/656, 655, 663; 287/54 A, 54 B, 54 C, 20.92 E, 54, 71; 248/150, 151

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 671,339 l/1939 Germany ..52/656 51 Apr. 10, 1973 Primary Examiner-Frank L. Abbott Assistant Examiner-James L. Ridgill, Jr. 5 Attorney-Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack 7] ABSTRACT The invention consists in a structural element adapted to be connected with other elements to form a screen or like structure, the elements being arranged in staghave parallel axes and are located at the corners of an 1 isosceles or equilateral triangle so that the lines between the socket and the two lugs form equal sides of the triangle. Each socket has a pair of aligned holes centrally in register with the meeting plane of two lugs housed therein and each lug has a semi-circular groove so as to form with that of an adjacent lug a circular bore to receive a locking pin pushed through the socket holes. In its simplest form each element is constructed so that each lug is joined to the socket by a single bar member and can include rebated or grooved members forming glazing bars for supporting glazing panels or other sheets in the interstices of the screen formed by the elements.

'PATENTEDAPR O'IQB SHEETIUFQ Attorneys ,PATENTEBAPR 1 3,726,055

} sumenrix Inventor VICTOR GEORGE BRANT PATBJTHJ 8,726,055

sum 3 0F 4 VICTOR GEORGE BRANT A florneys PAIEMED P I 3,726,055

SHEET 1 BF 4 FIG 6 SCREENS This invention relates to structural elements primarily for screens of ornamental appearance such as .are used in dwelling houses and other buildings where it is required to provide a partition or barrier which can be seen through, but not necessarily to exclude air.

In the past such screens have been commonly made of wrought iron, and, more recently, of stripsof steel welded together to simulate the appearance of wrought iron. These methods of manufacture have the disadvantage that the screens must either be made individually in each case or made in a number of stock sizes so that mass production methods have had a very limited application. In consequence, it has not hitherto been possible to produce such articles of manufacture at a price attractive to the normal consumer market.

The object of the present invention is to provide a means of producing such a screen structure which overcomes these difficulties so that a wide variety of screen sizes and shapes can be formed by the use of standard parts capable of being manufactured on a mass production basis.

In accordance with the present invention, a structural element, suitable for the production of screens, has two spaced apart lugs and a socket to house two adjacent lugs of adjoining elements when a plurality of the elements are assembled together, the lugs and socket being located at the comers of an isosceles or equilateral triangle so that lines between the socket and the two lugs form equal sides of the triangle.

The lugs and socket may be connected by single strips or bars or by an arrangement of connected members forming a pattern.

The invention also includes a screen comprising a plurality of the structural elements, in each of which the lugs form the means of attachment of the element to similar adjoining elements of the screen by the insertion of two lugs in one socket.

When a number of such elements are assembled to form a screen so that two lugs of two elements lie in one socket of another element, they are preferably secured against accidental disassembly by securing pins passing through the sockets and the lugs therein.

For a fuller understanding of the invention, production of a screen will now be described in detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows an elevational. view of a structural element according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a section of the element on the line [I- II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows in perspective on an enlarged scale the means for securing two elements to a third;

FIG. 4 shows a detail of the attachment of two elements to an outer frame;

FIG. 5 shows in perspective the use of the elements to fabricate a wine rack; and

FIG. 6 shows part of a screen made from a combination of several elements.

A screen in accordance with the invention is made up of a plurality of structural elements arranged in staggered rows and for the purpose of the present description, each element as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 may be visualized as occupying one of a number of equal sized areas in rows into which the screen is: divided in a manner analogous to the bricks in a wall. Each element is of metal, preferably aluminium and forms a decorative shaped based on strip material similar to a repeated pattern element in a wrought iron screen. The precise shape of the element, which may be produced by joining together individual pieces of strip metal, or formed from a single piece of metal by stamping, casting or other convenient method, forms no part of the present invention and may consist of no more than two straight bars 1. Regardless of its shape, each element is fabricated so that terminal portions are present at the corners ofan isosceles triangle enclosing the major part of the area occupied by the element and at these corners the element is provided with rectangular strip-like lugs 2, 3 extending from that area and with a socket 4 to receive two such lugs at the apex of the triangle. When the elements are arranged to form the screen they are disposed so that each lug of an element lies adjacent another lug of the adjoining element in its row to form groups of two. The lugs in each group are housed in the socket of an element in the row thereabove in staggered relationship as shown in FIG. 1 where lugs 2a, 3b of elements 1a, 1b (shown dotted) are housed in socket 4 of element 1. The socket walls are tapered to afford a tight push fit for the lugs.

Accordingly a screen is built up by the repeated process of inserting one lug from each of two elements adjacent in a row into the socket of a third element in staggered relation in a superior row, as shown in FIG. 6.

The periphery of the screen may be completed by a framework formed of metal bars. For a rectangular screen top and bottom horizontal bars are screwed or otherwise secured to the outermost lugs and sockets of the screen structure. At the sides the elements in alternate rows which partly lie outside the required screen area are cut off down the center of their sockets, the single lug 2 in each such half socket 5 being screwed to the frame bar 6 as shown in FIG. 4.

As a positive securing device for the elements of the screen each socket 4 (FIG. 3) may be provided with aligned holes 7 in its walls in register with the meeting plane of adjacent lugs 2, 3 therein. Semi-circular grooves 8 are formed in the lugs in line with the holes in the sockets so that the grooves of two adjacent lugs present a circular bore co-axial with the holes in the socket. Locking pins 9 pressed through the holes and i the bores thus provided and preferably coated with an adhesive prevent endwise movement of the lugs in the sockets and so hold the screen structure securely together.

The elements may conveniently be made in plastics, for example by injection moulding. They may also be conveniently made in light metal by any suitable casting technique. However, production of the elements in aluminum or aluminum alloy by pressure die casting is particularly cheap and convenient.

When made of metal the elements may be electroplated, brightened, anodized, etched, dyed, printed or subjected to any other metal finishing process in order to achieve the desired appearance.

The construction described above may be utilized in the production of a glazed screen. For such a purpose the elements of the screen form glazing bars which are rebated or grooved to receive the edges of glass or other glazing panels which fit the interstices in the screen between the bars.

The application of the present invention is not restricted to screens; it may, for example, be used for the production of grills with hoops through which bottles or other objects of round section may be stored. Such an application is the wine rack partially illustrated in FIG. 5. Two spaced apart grills 20, 21 are each formed by rows of straight bar elements such as 20a, 20b, 20c and 21a, 21b, 21c joined as previously described (for clarity only one complete and two scrap elements are shown in the figure for each grill). The lugs are locked in the sockets by rods such as 22 which extend between the grills and maintain them in fixed relation. To support short bottles the bars, such as those denoted 23, 24, are grooved or recessed to house support plates 25.

The elements of the invention may also be applied to the construction of trellis work over which garden plants may be encouraged to climb. The invention may further be used for ceiling decoration.

In many such cases the lightness and corrosion re sistance of, for example, aluminum provide an important advantage over the use of wrought iron apart from a saving in cost.

What is claimed is:

1. A screen comprising a plurality of structural elements, each structural element having means for its attachment to similar elements, the attachment means comprising two spaced apart lugs and a socket to house two adjacent lugs of similar adjoining elements, the lugs and socket being located at the corners of an isosceles or equilateral triangle so that the lines between the socket and the two lugs form equal sides of the triangle, the elements being arranged in staggered rows and secured together by the insertion of pairs of adjacent lugs of two adjoining elements in each row below the topmost into the sockets of the elements of a superior row.

2. A screen comprising a plurality of structural elements, each structural element having means for its attachment to similar elements, the attachment means comprising two spaced apart lugs and a socket to house two adjacent lugs of similar adjoining elements, the lugs and socket being located at the comers of an isosceles or equilateral triangle so that the lines between the socket and the two lugs form equal sides of the triangle with the lugs and socket having parallel axes lying in the plane of the triangle and extending outwardly therefrom at right angles to the direction of the side of the triangle adjoining the lugs, each socket having a pair of aligned holes centrally in register with the meeting plane of two lugs housed therein, and each lug having a semi-circular groove so as to form with that of an adjacent lug a circular bore to receive a locking pin pushed through the socket holes, the elements being arranged in staggered rows and secured together by the insertion of pairs of adjacent lugs of two adjoining elements in each row below the topmost into the socket of the elements of a superior row.

3. A structural element for use in the manufacture of screens comprising two spaced apart lugs, a socket and means connecting each of said lugs to said socket, each of said lugs and said socket forming a different corner of a common isosceles or equilateral triangle, the distance between each of said lugs and said socket fonning the equal sides of said isosceles or equilateral triangle and the distance between said two lu s forming the t 1rd side of said isosceles or equrlatera triangle;

said socket having an opening therein facing outwardly of said triangle for housing two adjacent lugs of similar adjoining structural elements; said lugs having axes parallel to each other and said socket opening having an axis parallel to the axes of said lugs, said lug axes and said socket opening axis lying in the plane of the triangle and extending outwardly therefrom at right angles to said third side.

4. A structural element according to claim 3 in which each socket has a pair of aligned holes centrally in register with the meeting plane of two lugs housed therein, and in which each lug has a semi-circular groove so as to form with that of an adjacent lug a circular bore to receive a locking pin pushed through the socket holes.

5. A structural element according to claim 3 in which each lug is joined to the socket by a single bar member.

6. A structural element according to claim 3 having rebated or grooved members forming glazing bars for supporting glazing panels or other sheets in the interstices of a screen formed by a plurality of the elements. 

1. A screen comprising a plurality of structural elements, each structural element having means for its attachment to similar elements, the attachment means comprising two spaced apart lugs and a socket to house two adjacent lugs of similar adjoining elements, the lugs and socket being located at the corners of an isosceles or equilateral triangle so that the lines between the socket and the two lugs form equal sides of the triangle, the elements being arranged in staggered rows and secured together by the insertion of pairs of adjacent lugs of two adjoining elements in each row below the topmost into the sockets of the elements of a superior row.
 2. A screen comprising a plurality of structural elements, each structural element having means for its attachment to similar elements, the attachment means comprising two spaced apart lugs and a socket to house two adjacent lugs of similar adjoining elements, the lugs and socket being located at the corners of an isosceles or equilateral triangle so that the lines between the socket and the two lugs form equal sides of the triangle with the lugs and socket having parallel axes lying in the plane of the triangle and extending outwardly therefrom at right angles to the direction of the side of the triangle adjoining the lugs, each socket having a pair of aligned holes centrally in register with the meeting plane of two lugs housed therein, and each lug having a semi-circular groove so as to form with that of an adjacent lug a circular bore to receive a locking pin pushed through the socket holes, the elements being arranged in staggered rows and secured together by the insertion of pairs of adjacent lugs of two adjoining elements in each row below the topmost into the socket of the elements of a superior row.
 3. A structural element for use in the manufacture of screens comprising two spaced apart lugs, a socket and means connecting each of said lugs to said socket, each of said lugs and said socket forming a different corner of a common isosceles or equilateral triangle, the distance between each of said lugs and said socket forming the equal sides of said isosceles or equilateral triangle and the distance between said two lugs forming the third side of said isosceles or equilateral triangle; said socket having an opening therein facing outwardly of said triangle for housing Two adjacent lugs of similar adjoining structural elements; said lugs having axes parallel to each other and said socket opening having an axis parallel to the axes of said lugs, said lug axes and said socket opening axis lying in the plane of the triangle and extending outwardly therefrom at right angles to said third side.
 4. A structural element according to claim 3 in which each socket has a pair of aligned holes centrally in register with the meeting plane of two lugs housed therein, and in which each lug has a semi-circular groove so as to form with that of an adjacent lug a circular bore to receive a locking pin pushed through the socket holes.
 5. A structural element according to claim 3 in which each lug is joined to the socket by a single bar member.
 6. A structural element according to claim 3 having rebated or grooved members forming glazing bars for supporting glazing panels or other sheets in the interstices of a screen formed by a plurality of the elements. 